1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to a stopping position control apparatus and method for an internal combustion engine. More specifically, the invention relates to a stopping position control apparatus and method that appropriately controls an internal combustion engine over which an automatic stop/restart control (eco-run control) is executed when a vehicle temporarily stops.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-293444 (JP-A-2004-293444) describes an engine starting system which executes a control (eco-run control) for automatically stopping and then restarting an internal combustion engine when a vehicle is temporarily stopped. This system adjusts the engine speed at which fuel supply is stopped, in order to stop a piston at a more appropriate position (i.e., in order to stop a crankshaft shaft at a more appropriate crankshaft position) when the internal combustion engine is automatically stopped. With this control, the internal combustion engine is restarted more smoothly. Also, this system removes external loads (i.e., loads placed on the internal combustion engine by the auxiliary devices) when a condition for automatically stopping the internal combustion engine is satisfied. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 8-61110 (JP-A-8-61110) also describes a similar technology.
The system described above removes the loads placed on the internal combustion engine by the auxiliary devices after a command to automatically stop the internal combustion engine is issued. With such a configuration, the internal combustion engine may be automatically stopped before the loads placed on the internal combustion engine by the auxiliary devices are completely removed (i.e., when some loads are still placed on the internal combustion engine by the auxiliary devices). In such a case, the crankshaft stop position may vary depending on the amount of loads that are still placed on the internal combustion engine when it is automatically stopped.